Are You Coming to the Hanging Tree?
by CaptainKatie643
Summary: When Katniss meets Cato during training for the Games, she falls in love. He is perfect in every way despite his brutal nature. But what about Peeta? When Katniss remembers all those years ago when he helped her with the bread, does she remember feelings too? Who will Katniss choose and most importantly, who will win? Hurt, Comfort, Tragedy, Romance
1. Chapter 1

Are You Coming to the Hanging Tree?-Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own THG**

**Check out my blog for more information on updates on this story. The link is on my profile.**

**Katniss' POV**

Those last words I heard from my sister echoed through my head. She had called my name, it sounded like she was in pain and I hated that. I was absentmindedly staring at my polished white plate that showed my reflection and it was resting on a polished table that also showed my reflection. This was a place that I did not belong, on this train that would take me to my death. It was silent, at least for the one other person in the room. Prim's voice was still ringing in my head but Peeta's voice cut her off.

"That was a pretty brave thing for you to do. You know, volunteering for your sister. At the reaping." Said Peeta, breaking the uncomfortable silence. I stayed silent, my back straight in my chair, my hands in my lap but out of the corner of my eye I could see Peeta looking at me. I purposely looked out the window, knowing I couldn't get attached to him. It would just make it harder to kill him later. When I didn't respond, Peeta tried again.

"Why did you do it?" He asked and my body went ridged. I couldn't think about my reasons at the moment, those reasons brought up images of Prim's innocent blood spilt on the grass. I looked down at my hands as they fidgeted in my lap. Peeta was about to say something else but Effie strode back into the room with a very hung-over Haymitch.

"Katniss, Peeta, this is Haymitch. He will be your mentor for your Games." She introduced, smiling at us before turning to smile at Haymitch. She waited for him to say something, her smile slowly fading, but Haymitch didn't even acknowledge us. He just walked over to the liquor table and poured himself a drink. Effie's hands clenched in fists while she frowned and glared at him. "Haymitch!" She snapped, looking much like a mother who was disappointed in her son.

"What? What do you want, woman?" Responded Haymitch grumpily, he was half asleep and he swayed a bit. My eyebrow rose at him as he took a big gulp of his drink and Effie glared at him in disgust.

"Manners! Your mentees are here and you're acting like you don't care about them." Scolded Effie, putting her arms on her hips. When Haymitch didn't respond, she rolled her eyes and took a seat on one of the small couches.

"It's too early for this." Mumbled Haymitch and I felt slightly amused considering that it was in the afternoon but I wasn't in the mood for laughing. He shuffled slowly over to his seat across from me and Peeta and plopped down in front of us, scanning our faces for something. Me and Peeta stayed silent, confusion clear on our faces but Haymitch didn't say anything, he just relaxed into his seat while taking a sip of his drink. His gaze stayed on my face longer than Peeta's and my eyes narrowed at him but he didn't look away.

"Um, hi, I'm Peeta. And you're Haymitch?" Asked Peeta even though he already knew Haymitch's name. Haymitch's eyes left mine and turned to look at Peeta.

"Yeah, you're just like I thought." Said Haymitch, leaning back in his seat and taking a drink again. His probing gaze met mine again. "But this one, I'm having a hard time understanding." He said and my eyebrows crinkled, confused about what he was talking about.

"What do you mean?" I asked suddenly, Peeta turning to look at me with betrayal in his eyes but I didn't pay attention to him. Haymitch placed his drink on the table with a little clink and I got impatient with him.

"He's easy to read, he's nice and considerate and I was right. But you, you are confusing, sweetheart. You're bitter, like coffee." He trailed off, crinkling his eyebrows as he stared blankly at the table. He didn't seem to be fully aware of his surroundings when he spoke his last sentence. My anger flared anyway, his words angering me and my eyes narrowed at him.

Haymitch had shaken himself out of whatever daze he had been in, looking almost haunted and reached for his drink again. Without thinking, I grabbed the knife off my placemat and stabbed the table between Haymitch's hand and his drink, narrowly missing his hand. His head shot up to meet my gaze and my eyes were already there to glare at him. We both glared fiercely at each other, Peeta's wide eyes flickering back and forth between us with a shocked look.

"That is mahogany!" Yelled Effie, her expression horrified. I ignored her, not backing down from Haymitch. His mouth turned up into a smirk and he grabbed the knife out of my hand.

"Nice job, sweetheart. You killed a placemat." He said cockily, smirking at me. My glare intensified at him and my anger grew.

"That's not the only thing I can kill." I muttered, sneering at him. Peeta looked like he had never seen such a sight in his life and it would have been amusing if I wasn't angry.

"I sure hope so, sweetheart." Said Haymitch and I ignored his remark, glaring down at my plate. I knew I wasn't going to have a chance in these Games if my mentor was against me but I couldn't bring myself to care. "Can you throw this knife at anything else?" He asked, handing me the knife and I hesitantly took it from him.

"You trust me with this?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow. It seemed sort of strange, a person who had almost been stabbed was handing the knife over to the one who had tried to stab them before.

"You wouldn't kill your mentor, now would you?" He asked and I nodded thoughtfully, he had a point.

"You'd be surprised." I mumbled and Haymitch smiled slightly, amused by my comment.

I stood up and looked for a good spot to hit with the knife. I aimed for the eye of a person in a painting hanging on the wall, the canvas looked flimsy enough to break with this dull knife. With the flick of my wrist, the knife flew through the air and dug itself between the panels of wood on the wall, next to the painting. It made me look good but it definitely wasn't what I was aiming for.

"That is a _rare_ oak wall! What is wrong with you? Do you think that it's perfectly fine to go around throwing knives at wood?" Screeched Effie, her painted face turning slightly red. I just stared at the knife protruding out of the wall before down at Haymitch.

"Wow, sweetheart. You're pretty handy with that knife." Commented Haymitch, ignoring Effie's complaints and his eyebrows rising on his forehead. I didn't respond and sat back down in my seat. "What else can you do?" He asked, reaching for his drink again. I didn't interfere with him this time and Haymitch seemed to be more than happy.

"I can shoot a bow and arrow." I answered, the answer coming out of my mouth smoothly. It sounded strange on my tongue, I never really trusted anyone with my secret talent besides Prim, Gale and my mother, but we never talked about it.

"How good?" He asked, sounding very businesslike. He seemed to be evaluating me, putting my image into place in his mind.

"I'm alright." I answered, shrugging and then waiting for the next question to be thrown at me. Peeta's mouth dropped open in disbelief and Haymitch turned to him.

"_Alright?_ She's amazing! Every time my father buys a squirrel from her, the arrow is always shot right through the eye. She never misses it." Exclaimed Peeta, gesturing to his eye. My eyes narrowed at him, why was he helping me like this? Wouldn't it just make it harder for him to kill me? I know I wouldn't want to be thinking about how skilled my opponent was in a death match, so why was he talking so excitably about me?

"Peeta can lift one hundred pound bags of flour." I said in a matter of fact way. Haymitch's eyes flickered to my face before looking back to Peeta for confirmation.

"Yeah, but that's not going to help me. I doubt that there will be one hundred pounds of flour in the arena for me to throw at people." He snapped, glaring at his plate. I didn't respond, having nothing to say even though I felt slightly bad for him.

"That strength could help you in the arena. If you have to fight hand to hand combat." Said Haymitch, nodding at him. The thought made my stomach flip flop. If there were no weapons at all in the arena, I'd be the first to die.

Haymitch and Peeta then maintained a conversation about survival tips while I sometimes listened but stared at my plate more than others. The thought about hand to hand combat had crushed most of my hopes of getting home. It reminded me about the millions of other situations and environments I could be put in and the no forest scenario seemed to scare me the most.

"Everyone! Come quick! The reapings are on!" Called Effie, her broad smile spreading across her face again. During our conversation, she must have turned the TV on because I didn't see it on when I entered the train.

We all slowly rose from our seats to join Effie on the couches; I was seated next to Peeta who I ignored. Caesar Flickerman was smiling and talking overenthusiastically as always, his hair blue this year. He ranted on and on about the upcoming events, making me cringe at his excitement for the Games but Effie watched with a slight smile, perking up when he spoke of something to do with fashion. I started to get tired, the day's events taking their toll on me but Caesar's voice that was renewed with new enthusiasm jolted me awake.

"Now, to start us off, we have District 1. Let's take a look shall we?" Said Caesar, nodding to the camera with a blinding smile before the screen switched to the clean and well kept streets of District 1. Haymitch wasn't paying much attention, glancing at the TV every once in awhile before back down at his newly refilled cup. Peeta and Effie were probably the ones most interested, both for different reasons. "The tributes of District 1 for this year's Hunger Games are Glimmer and Marvel. Would you look at that, they look truly ready and determined to win these Games." Commented Caesar, his face not visible but his voice was still loud and clear.

The tributes from District 1 weren't too much of a threat; the girl would almost match my weight if I was healthier and the boy was tall and lean but still muscled. The girl, Glimmer, was pretty, but her named diminished any respect I had for her, it was silly to name your child Glimmer and she was obviously self-consumed by the way she stuck her nose in the air as she walked. The boy, Marvel, looked cocky and smug, like he was going to win the Games with his overconfidence. I kept a face of distaste on as their names were said a final time before the cameras switched back to Caesar.

"How about District 2?" Said Caesar, the cameras on him for those 3 seconds was kind of pointless. The cameras switched over a view of all the very nicely dressed children of District 2 who are standing in their assigned places.

I took in the well groomed and healthy children, my mouth set in a grim line at how much better they had it and they didn't even know it. They probably didn't even care. The tributes had been called but both of them had been volunteered for. The girl's name was Clove, the look in her eyes screamed death and the smirk on her lips didn't help me try to shake her intimidation. She looked well-trained and muscular as all District 2 children are but this girl seemed much too dangerous for her own good. The boy's name was Cato, when they showed his face on camera I couldn't help but be mesmerized. His hair was a golden blonde, much like Peeta's, and his eyes were a deep blue. His muscles seemed to ripple under his skin as he walked which should have made me feel fear but I couldn't bring myself to. He was well built and he was handsome, it was obvious the other girls in District 2 thought so as well by the way they were staring at him.

I shook myself from my thoughts. What was I doing? He was from District 2 and I'm from District 12. He'd probably kill me the moment I step foot in the arena, if he didn't, then I'd have to kill him. I reminded myself that I should be fearful and yet it seemed like a lie. But Cato's face was ripped from the screens and Caesar Flickerman's face replaced it. I glanced at everyone in the room, they hadn't seemed to notice what had just happened, even I wasn't sure what had just happened. But I just turned my attention back to the screen to watch the rest of the reapings.

The next couple districts seemed to drag on and I became bored after all of them seemed to pose no threat. District 11 caught my attention though, the boy was Thresh and he was huge, almost rivaling Cato which surprised me since kids from District 11 are usually skinny and hungry, like us but fed more. The girl was Rue, she was a tiny little thing, only twelve years old and she reminded me of Rue. The look on her face when her name was called almost broke my heart; it made me angry that no one volunteered for this poor girl. When Thresh and Rue stood next to each other on the podium, they reminded me of the lion and the lamb and I had to repress a soft smile.

The screen cut to the familiar square of District 12. All good feelings I had were squashed as I watched Prim's name get called. It killed me to watch that again

**Haymitch's POV**

Peeta and I watched Katniss walk out of the dining car. She looked tired, dark circles beginning to appear under her eyes and she looked stressed. Effie was still busy looking in a mirror hanging on the wall and it was silent as Peeta stared at the doorway where Katniss had gone.

"That girl's somethin'. You sure have a…_different _taste in girls." I said, relaxing back into the couch cushions contently. Peeta turned to face with a confused expression, his eyebrows drawing together.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, sounding a bit clueless but there was a certain tone in his voice that told me that he knew what I was talking about.

"You like her, don't you? I can see it, in the way you look at her and the way you talked about her." I explained, sipping my almost empty drink. I don't think that Katniss likes him, she was a bit cold towards him yet she seemed cold towards everyone. Either that, or she doesn't know. But it's quite obvious; I don't know how she wouldn't see it.

Peeta nodded in a sheepish way, avoiding my gaze with a slight blush on his cheeks. I got up with a grunt and grabbed the bottle of whiskey sitting on one of the tables, not bothering to fill my glass up.

"Well, I'm leaving too. Goodnight." I said curtly, stumbling out of the room with the whiskey in the bottle sloshing around and Peeta's eyes on my back.


	2. Chapter 2

Are You Coming to the Hanging Tree?-Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own THG**

**Cato's POV**

I rolled my eyes at Clove who is currently picking at her nails with her knife. We are both sitting at the couch in the living area of the train with a TV in front of us, waiting for the Reaping to be shown.

"You're going to cut yourself if you keep doing that." I said nonchalantly while casually lying across the couch.

"Doubt it." She said and continued.

I grabbed the remote when Caesar Flickerman showed up on the screen and turned up the volume. Brutus and Enobaria walked in then and stood at the door.

"Welcome folks! I hope you had a great day so far! It's that time of year again! We get to watch our Annual Hunger Games once again this year! How exciting! Let's watch the reapings of our 74th Hunger Games Tributes." He said, his voice obnoxiously loud. His hair seemed to be blue this year, it changes every year.

The screen changed from his smiling face to the town square of District 1. Caesar's voice walked us through the reaping. Both volunteered, both seemed unbelievably confident. The boy was lean and tall but he had some muscle, his mouth was a smirk and he held his head confidently. His hair was brown and eyes green. His name was Marvel. The girl was very beautiful, as she walked; she swung her hips, aware of all of the eyes on her. Her hair was blonde and she also had green eyes. Her name was Glimmer. Clove rolled her eyes at her while I stared.

The screen went to District 2 and Clove didn't really pay attention. I watched my face to make sure I had the right expression. I did, it was menacing and ready. Clove looked dangerous and scary.

The reapings in District 3 through 10 were boring and I saw no competition. But District 11 and 12 brought my attention back to the screen which surprised me since I was about to leave the room when those districts were going to be shown. They never posed a threat in the Games.

District 11's tributes were a strange pair. The girl, was 12 years old and not a problem. But the boy, he was huge. He had muscles that rivaled mine and he didn't look scared to be here.

District 12 was something different. The girl, Katniss, volunteered for her sister. I was stunned by her beauty and guts. I would have to keep an eye on her. The boy wasn't as strong as 11 or I but he was a little bit of a threat. I watched as Katniss stood on the stage with an emotionless mask on, entranced. The screen suddenly cut off the image of Katniss and I felt slightly disappointed.

"And that concludes the reapings of this year's Hunger Games. Stay tuned for the chariot rides tomorrow night." Said Caesar, smiling in the camera before the screen went to advertisements.

"Looks like we don't have too much competition." Commented Clove. "All we have to worry about is that 11 guy and taking out 1." I nodded, agreeing with her.

"What about 12?" I asked, glancing at Clove.

"The boy won't be a problem unless you fight hand to hand. And the girl is like a string bean. I could kill her with my hands." Said Clove, looking back at her knife. But I knew she was bluffing, she couldn't do that. Katniss looked determined and she definitely had some muscle on her. She was right about the boy though.

I sat still in my seat as Clove played with her knife and thought about Katniss. She seemed so different than the others. She looked determined and head strong. There was also something in her eyes, like fire, a burning passion about something. I didn't know what but I was going to find out.


End file.
